The sides have been named for this season’s Island of Origin Twenty20 showdown, 21 out of the 24 players former or current BLACKCAPS.
The South Island is the current holder of the Mere.
North Island
Ross Taylor (captain, Lower Hutt)
Todd Astle (Palmerston North)
Doug Bracewell (Tauranga)*
Anton Devcich (Hamilton)
Grant Elliott (Johannesburg, South Africa – First MA Wellington)
Mitchell McClenaghan (Hastings)
Adam Milne (Palmerston North)
Colin Munro (Durban, South Africa – First MA Auckland)
James Neesham (Auckland)
Luke Ronchi (wicketkeeper, Dannevirke)
Ish Sodhi (Ludhiana, India – First MA Northern Districts)
George Worker (Palmerston North)
* Doug Bracewell has since been replaced by Auckland's Colin de Grandhomme after injury.
South Island
Tom Latham (captain, Christchurch)
Dean Brownlie (Perth, Australia – First MA Canterbury)
Jacob Duffy (Lumsden)
Andrew Ellis (Christchurch)
Peter Fulton (Christchurch)
Matt Henry (Christchurch)
Nathan McCullum (Dunedin)
Henry Nicholls (wicketkeeper, Christchurch)
Marty Kain (Nelson)
Hamish Rutherford* (Dunedin)
Nathan Smith (Dunedin)
Neil Wagner* (Pretoria, South Africa – First MA Otago)
* Neil Wagner has since been replaced by Canterbury's Hamish Bennett, after Wagner fractured his knuckle on BLACKCAPS duty.
* Hamish Rutherford has since been replaced by Canterbury's Ken McClure after sustaining a concussion while playing for the Volts
Set for the Basin Reserve on the afternoon of Sunday 28 February, the 2016 Island of Origin is the second annual instalment of the contest and will be screened LIVE on SKY TV, as will the WHITE FERNS' opening Twenty20 International against world number ones Australia which forms the first half of the T20 doubleheader.
The match will represent the final hit-out for a number of BLACKCAPS players ahead of the ICC World Twenty20. Ross Taylor is also in line to make his return from injury and will captain the North Island side.
“I’m excited to be part of the match and expect to see both sides going hard at it,” said Taylor.
“With the level of players involved, it should be a high quality game of cricket and hopefully the crowd gets behind it and we see it become a regular annual fixture.”
BLACKCAPS Test opener Tom Latham has been named captain of the South Island side, while Henry Nicholls will keep stumps. The match will also be a chance to see Otago's New Zealand Under-19s rep Nathan Smith.
Selector Gavin Larsen said the sides were evenly matched.
“It’s two very strong teams who will both be eager on taking bragging rights,” said Larsen.
“It’s also a great chance for a number of players to get back into Twenty20 mode ahead of the tournament in India.
“We’ll be watching with interest, as it’s also a chance for a number of fringe players to push their case for higher honours going forward.”
The workloads of a number of BLACKCAPS who featured in the ANZ Test Series against Australia means they will be given the opportunity to rest ahead of the World Twenty20, while Ben Wheeler, Ed Nuttall and Warren Barnes were not considered due to injury.
The match will be part of a televised doubleheader, with the WHITE FERNS in a trans-Tasman Twenty20 clash against Australia beforehand.
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Selection eligibility criteria:
- Island of birth
- If not born in New Zealand, then the Island associated with the first senior domestic team represented
- If that team was the Devon Hotel Central Stags, then the Island associated with the player’s first District Association
